The Pond in the Park: An Indic Tale on Southeast Asian Spiritualisms and Ecology

ASLE member Uma Jayaraman has made a video of a performance that she also gave at the 2015 ASLE Conference as part of the panel entitled “Resistances and Emergences.” “The Pond in the Park” is set in present day Singapore, and focuses on human estrangement from Nature. This eco-spiritual tale is narrated in the amalgamated styles of Dastaan and Kathakaalakshebam, two ancient forms of popular storytelling in South Asian cultures. Jayaraman is a creative writer and artist, who has scripted and directed six stage plays and one radio play. Two of her plays received Prizes for the best play in Singapore Tamil Theatre Competition. She teaches at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.